


In Need of Rest

by vulcanhighblood



Series: In Your Arms [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alpha Umino Iruka, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Massage, Mild Hurt/Comfort, No Sex, No Smut, Omega Hatake Kakashi, Overworking, Scars, Sleep Deprivation, Soft Hatake Kakashi, Umino Iruka is Bad at Self Care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29940546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vulcanhighblood/pseuds/vulcanhighblood
Summary: Iruka is spending too much time taking care of other people and not enough time caring for himself. Kakashi decides to do something about it.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Series: In Your Arms [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129064
Comments: 13
Kudos: 88
Collections: Iruka Week 2021





	In Need of Rest

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Iruka Week Day 1 prompt "Overworked and Sleep Deprived", but then "Scars" decided to sneak in there, too. Enjoy!

As the icy grip of winter gradually gave ground to the warm breezes and light rains of spring, Iruka found himself quite busy with no real idea of how it happened, and no real idea of what steps he could take to resolve the problem. It wasn’t any one thing that made him so busy, but rather a number of small inconveniences that had built up over time. 

He still had all of his academy classes to teach, and then, he’d agreed to take on the additional responsibility of Mizuki’s classes, after… well. 

Originally, he’d agreed because the headmaster had assured him that he would just be covering the classes while the Academy administration looked for a new instructor to take the place of the traitorous shinobi. Only, that fabled “new instructor” never seemed to materialize, and while Iruka’s back had mostly healed from the injury he’d been given by Mizuki, the injury he felt at the betrayal hadn’t had much time to heal, and the additional lesson plans, grading, and doubled class size certainly left him with little time to mourn the friendship he had lost - that had, perhaps, only ever existed in his mind. 

So that was the first issue, he reflected. They were now months down the line and still no replacement teacher appeared to be coming - to the point that he had been asked to create the syllabi for  _ two _ classes that were set to begin in April, and he was expected to somehow teach them in between his regular missions, mission desk shifts, and physical therapy appointments. 

Yes, Iruka now had  _ that _ to somehow shuffle into his schedule, too. The wounds Mizuki had left in his wake had not only impacted Iruka’s workload, it had also cut into his precious free time. Iruka was currently under strict orders from his doctor to attend regular physical therapy sessions to ensure he kept his range of motion despite the scar tissue building up between his shoulder blades. 

Even that would have probably been enough to have him feeling miserable, but Iruka also spent the majority of his nights lying awake, staring at the ceiling, far too aware of the empty futon in his apartment. Naruto’s futon. He knew it was silly, that he couldn’t protect the pup forever, but the alpha part of him - the part that had claimed the boy as his own and  _ refused _ to let him go - hated it when he left, whether he was off on missions or simply overnight training excursions. He trusted Kakashi to protect him and bring him back safely, of course, but…

Well, he didn’t like to admit it, but he missed Kakashi, too. 

Iruka sighed, scooting aside his stack of half-graded papers with a grimace, standing and stretching his arms out, feeling his back twinge at the motion. It had been months since the attack, and he’d been back on active duty for a few months at this point, but there were still times when his back would be stiff and painful. He didn’t regret protecting Naruto - he loved the boy, and would do it all over again in a heartbeat if he thought it would keep the boy safe. But just because he didn’t regret the decision didn’t mean he enjoyed the lingering consequences. Shuffling across the room, Iruka filled his kettle with water and set it to boil, plucking out a cup of instant noodles from his cupboard he usually kept for Naruto to eat as a snack. He huffed in amusement at himself, remembering all the times he’d shouted at Naruto that cup noodles were  _ not _ the same thing as a meal. 

He’d had it for dinner the last three days straight, too tired and busy to stop to buy groceries or eat out. It wasn’t good for him, he knew. He should be eating vegetables, protein, something with fiber in it, probably. But he was too tired to care at this point. Naruto had been gone for nearly a week at this point, and he knew that the boy was due back soon, and he just wanted to finish his weekly classes, grab his boy, and curl up with him on the couch for an entire weekend. Except he wouldn’t even be able to do that, because he was scheduled to work two weekend shifts at the mission desk. 

Iruka plucked open the cup noodles, pouring boiling water over them before sealing the cup’s lid and carrying it over to the table to resume his grading. He’d have to go shopping tomorrow, because Naruto was due back soon and Iruka couldn’t allow him to subsist on nothing but the few remaining cup noodles stacked in his cupboard. He’d find time to cook, somehow. Maybe he’d just sleep a few less hours. He could probably manage that, considering that worry kept him from sleeping on the nights when Naruto was away, he’d probably get around the same amount of sleep anyway. 

Peeling the lid off of his cup noodles after the two minute wait, Iruka listlessly stirred his chopsticks through the noodles, lifting a bite to his lips and eating, barely tasting them. Two more days until Naruto would be home, and maybe then he’d find the energy to actually cook something. Until then, he could live on a few more meals of instant noodles.

* * *

Iruka was dragging his feet as he walked out of the Academy at the end of a very long week, school bag hanging heavy over one shoulder as he contemplated whether it was worth taking a little extra time out of his evening to eat at Ichiraku for dinner. 

“Iruka-sensei!” the call came from across the street, and Iruka lifted his head to catch the eyes of Naruto, who was beaming at him and waving his arms enthusiastically. Behind him stood Kakashi, gazing at Iruka with an inquisitive tilt to his head.

“Naruto!” Iruka beamed, immediately perking up as he caught sight of the omega pup. He hurried across the street, gathering the boy in his arms and holding him tight for a moment before pulling back and gazing at him thoughtfully. “How was your training?”

“It was great!” Naruto beamed, “I learned a lot and got  _ way _ stronger! But the rations were super gross, and Kakashi-sensei said that we had to eat them or find our own food - and I was better at finding food than Sasuke was! Sakura was the best at it, though,” he added after a moment’s hesitation. 

Part of Iruka wondered if Naruto was actually good at finding edible food, or if his stomach was so indestructible that he could eat anything and not suffer the consequences. Kakashi seemed to be in agreement though, so Iruka assumed that Naruto had actually managed to remember his edible plants lessons and find himself some real sustenance. “I’m glad to hear your survival training went well.”

“Yeah!” Naruto beamed, clinging to Iruka’s arm as they continued walking away from the Academy. “And we even met some enemy ninjas and stole some information from them! Kakashi-sensei had us come back a day early after that,” he reflected, glancing at his teacher thoughtfully. A moment later, the contemplation had fled in the wake of his renewed excitement. “Can we go eat ramen at Ichiraku’s?”

“Of course,” Iruka agreed with a grin, ruffling Naruto’s hair affectionately. Now that the boy was back, he’d just wait to grade the last of the assignments until after the boy fell asleep. If the training mission had been half as difficult as Naruto tended to claim his missions were, he’d be asleep before long. 

“Kakashi-sensei! You should come eat ramen with us!” Naruto said, turning and grabbing Kakashi’s arm with his other hand.

Kakashi glanced between Naruto and Iruka, a question in his gaze. Iruka fought the urge to blush. They hadn’t had much time to talk after… well, after Iruka had spent his rut in the omega Jonin’s presence, and then they’d gone their separate ways. Things weren’t exactly awkward between them, but they also hadn’t made a point of sharing a meal or even really speaking beyond the usual exchange of pleasantries since that time. “I wouldn’t mind a bowl of ramen,” Kakashi said slowly, his eyes locked on Iruka as he added, “If it’s alright with you.”

Iruka swallowed hard, feeling his face heating despite the fact that this was nothing more than a simple invitation to share a meal with a boy they each cared for, in their own way. But he still felt awkward around Kakashi, not sure what exactly their relationship was, or what it could become, and uncertain of how to approach that sort of conversation. But he also wanted to spend more time with both of them, so he nodded. “I’d like that.”

Kakashi’s eye crinkled with a soft smile, and he patted Naruto’s head fondly. “Let’s go, then,” he said. 

Naruto charged ahead, yelling wordlessly with excitement. The two of them watched him go with twin looks of fondness before turning to face one another. Iruka scrubbed at the back of his head awkwardly. “I guess we should probably try and catch up,” he said sheepishly, starting to trudge after the over-enthusiastic boy. The jonin-sensei kept pace beside him, still looking at him with what appeared to be growing concern. 

“Are you all right, Iruka-sensei?” Kakashi finally asked, taking Iruka by surprise. 

Blinking, Iruka came to a halt, looking at Kakashi. “Why? Does it seem like something’s wrong?”

“You’re moving stiffly,” Kakashi explained. “And dragging your feet. Are you in pain?”

Iruka considered the question. He was tired, and he supposed he did ache a bit. His back hurt - but that was rather the background radiation of his life at this point in time, so he hadn’t really thought about it. “A little?” he said slowly. “I wasn’t thinking about it, but-”

“Can I take your bag?” Kakashi offered. “Would that help?”

Iruka blinked. He wasn’t sure if it would help or not, his back tended to hurt whenever it wanted to, and there didn’t really seem to be a way of calming it once it decided to flare up. Or maybe he just wasn’t very good about taking care of himself or his back. His physical therapist sure seemed to think it was that second one, anyway. “I guess so,” he said, shrugging the bag off his shoulder with a grunt. “Here.”

Kakashi accepted the bag and slipped it over his own shoulder without comment, resuming their sedate pace, trailing Naruto. Iruka walked beside him, hating the uncomfortable quiet that had settled over them but at a loss for how to break the silence without making things more awkward. 

“He’s getting stronger,” Kakashi said then, his eye following Naruto as the boy continued scampering ahead of them, increasing the gap between him and them. His gaze had a softness to it, an almost pensive quality to his tone as he added, “They all are.” 

Iruka nodded, also watching the boy - his  _ pup _ \- joyfully round the corner, momentarily disappearing from view. “I’m glad to hear it,” he said, even though the thought didn’t bring him as much comfort as it probably should - he still worried about Naruto, and even if he was stronger, there were still a lot of opponents out there who were much stronger than him. 

Kakashi turned to give Iruka a sharp look, slowing his gait to really take him in. Iruka felt his spine prickle a little at the sudden attention, not sure whether he liked it or not. “Are you alright?” Kakashi asked him for the second time in as many minutes. 

Was he alright? Iruka wasn’t sure, and he was too tired to devote the energy required to think of a genuine answer to that question. “Let’s just get ramen,” he said, picking up the pace a little, well aware of how Kakashi watched him move, probably cataloguing the stiffness in his shoulders. Which was fine, it’s not like Iruka was all that graceful to begin with. 

Fortunately, Kakashi didn’t press him further, content to simply speed up as well until they were once again walking side-by-side as they followed Naruto to the ramen stand. 

* * *

Dinner tasted great, especially after five days of subsisting on cup noodles, school lunches, and mission desk office coffee. Naruto somehow managed to eat three whole bowls of ramen, and probably would have tried for a fourth if he hadn’t been practically falling asleep by the end of his third, running the risk of dropping face-first into his bowl as he slurped up the last few bites.

“I think it’s time to get you to bed,” Iruka informed Naruto, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and squeezing gently.

“Jus' one more bowl,” Naruto argued, his voice slurred sleepily, barely able to pry one blue eye open to look up at Iruka.

“We can come back another time,” Iruka said, shaking the boy gently. “Let’s get you home.” 

“Mkay,” Naruto relented sleepily, already resting half his body weight on Iruka. 

Iruka moved to pull the boy up, intending to carry him on his back, but before he could, Kakashi stepped in. “I’ll carry him,” he offered. 

Iruka wanted to argue, but his own limbs were threatening to crumple from an exhaustion not too dissimilar to Naruto’s, so he accepted the help with a weary nod and a grateful smile. “Thank you,” he said.

Kakashi scooped up Naruto, draping the boy’s arms around his neck. Iruka snickered a little at the small bit of drool escaping Naruto’s slack face. He was already asleep.

“You sure worked them hard, huh?” Iruka teased in a soft tone, thanking Teuchi for the meal before trailing after Kakashi and his tired pup. 

Kakashi glanced at Iruka, amused. “He always gives his best, no matter how tired he is by the end,” he said. “Reminds me of someone else I know.”

“Oh, really?” Iruka replied, trying to think of who that might be. “Are you referring to Gai-san?” 

Kakashi snickered a little. “Not exactly who I was thinking of, ” he said, glancing over at Iruka with a glint of mischief in his eye.

Iruka wracked his brain, trying to think of who else Kakashi might be talking about. “…are you talking about yourself?” Iruka fought to keep the skepticism from his tone. While it was true Kakashi worked hard in the field, he was notoriously lazy in most other situations. 

Kakashi actually barked a laugh at that, causing Naruto to stir, grumbling a little bit before burying his face in Kakashi’s neck and tightening his arms around his Jonin-sensei briefly before once more relaxing, a deep sigh escaping his lips as he slipped back into sleep.

Iruka frowned. “Who is it, then?” he demanded grumpily.

“You,” Kakashi answered in a tone that seemed to imply Iruka was ridiculous for ever guessing otherwise. “Where else would Naruto learn his work ethic from?” 

Iruka immediately felt embarrassed, closely followed by pleasant surprise. “You really think I work that hard?” he asked, a little struck by the enormity of a genius like Kakashi noticing the kind of work that Iruka put into his comparatively mundane life.

“I  _ know _ you do,” Kakashi corrected softly, turning to fix his piercing gaze on Iruka once more.

Iruka blinked in surprise at the intensity in his voice. “Oh. Well. Thank you. It’s nice to be recognized.”

Kakashi nodded, continuing in the direction of Iruka’s apartment, a more comfortable silence falling over them as they walked. By the time they reached Iruka’s door, Naruto was snoring softly. Kakashi shifted his weight slightly, and Iruka decided he was too tired to feel self-conscious about the mess in his house. “You’re welcome to come in and stay for a few minutes, if you have time,” he said. 

“I have time,” Kakashi said, following Iruka inside.

Iruka found some of Naruto’s pajamas and together they tucked him into bed before retiring to the main room where Iruka slumped down at the kotatsu. Kakashi set his school bag down in the corner, and Iruka blinked blearily at it. He’d forgotten all about it, but fortunately Kakashi had been good enough to carry it  _ and _ Naruto back from the ramen stand. 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Kakashi asked him again, leaning forward with a hint of concern in his eyes. “You seem tired.”

Iruka poked at his eyes experimentally. He didn’t think his dark circles had gotten  _ that _ bad. “Oh? Is it that obvious?” he asked, feeling a bit anxious. If Kakashi noticed, it was possible that other people had noticed, too. He knew he had been falling off his game a bit lately - between the extra work and the lack of sleep he’d definitely been feeling burned out, but he hadn’t really thought that anyone else would notice. If Kakashi had noticed… Iruka buried his face in his hands. “How embarrassing,” he muttered.

“It’s not  _ obvious, _ really,” Kakashi corrected, settling down at the kotatsu as well, his voice soft. “But I noticed, and I… I wanted to make sure you weren’t struggling with anything. If you need anything, I’d like to help.”

Iruka lifted his head from his hands, sighing a little. “It’s nothing terrible,” he said, “I’ve just been busy lately, losing sleep, you know, the usual.” 

“The usual?” Kakashi repeated, leaning forward slightly. “It doesn’t seem usual to me.”

“I mean,” Iruka shrugged uncomfortably, grimacing a little at how it pulled at his back, “It’s nothing major, you know?”

“That’s not…” Kakashi sighed, scrubbing at the back of his neck before finally meeting Iruka’s gaze head-on. “What I’m trying to ask you about is your back. Is it hurting you?” Kakashi demanded, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. “Did you injure it recently? You keep hesitating when you move, like you’re afraid it’s going to hurt.” 

Iruka bit his lip. “I… might have been a bit inconsistent in my exercises.”

“Your exercises?” Kakashi repeated, frowning slightly.

“From my physical therapist,” Iruka explained haltingly. “After the, ah, fuuma shuriken.” 

Kakashi’s eye widened. “You’re still healing from that?”

“Scar tissue takes a while to heal,” Iruka snapped, feeling defensive. 

“And you’ve not had time to dedicate to ensuring it heals properly,” Kakashi summarized. He gazed at Iruka for a long moment before saying, “How can I help?”

Iruka blinked. “Help?”

“That’s what I said,” Kakashi replied, a hint of exasperation in his tone. “What kinds of exercises do you need to do? Stretching? Would a massage help?”

Iruka stared blankly at Kakashi for several long seconds. “You’d do that?”

Kakashi wiggled his fingers demonstratively. “I have it on good authority that I give excellent deep tissue massages.”

Iruka’s eyebrows jumped a little as he said, “I’m listening.”

“Would it help?” Kakashi asked.

“My therapist usually massages it when I go in,” Iruka admitted. “So I’m going to go with probably yes.”

Kakashi stood abruptly. “Then let’s go.”

Iruka blinked. “Go?”

Kakashi gestured around the room. “Not really much room for a massage here,” he said.

Iruka looked around, confused. Surely there was enough room for Kakashi to sit behind him for the massage. Realization dawned slowly, and he felt his face begin to burn. “Oh! You want me to lay down!”

Kakashi’s face began to redden, and he made a move to sit back down. “If you’re uncomfortable-” he began, but Iruka quickly interrupted him.

“No, no, I was just confused, of course I’m comfortable with you, I’m always comfortable with you,” Iruka said quickly, his mouth clearly speaking before his mind had the chance to process what exactly he was saying. Wait. Had he just - ?

“I’m comfortable with you, too,” Kakashi said softly, his posture losing some of its tension. “If you wanted to do it sitting up, though…” 

“No,” Iruka said quickly, “It’s fine, we can do it in the bedroom.” He immediately wanted to slam his face into the kotatsu tabletop after the words he’d said fully registered in his mind. “I mean - Not - I mean, it’s not that I don’t - but you weren’t saying -” Iruka managed to choke out a few flustered half-sentences before Kakashi mercifully gave him an out.

“Giving you the massage on a futon would probably be easiest,” he said, his voice carefully neutral, though his face had grown significantly redder in the face of Iruka’s accidental double entendre. 

Iruka nodded, clambering to his feet, shuffling to the bedroom and scooting past Naruto’s futon and around the folding screen to reach his own bed. Kakashi followed him, also silent. Once they reached the futon, though, Iruka realized they had yet another hurdle facing them. He stared at Kakashi for a long moment, plucking at the hem of his flak jacket. He’d been shirtless around Kakashi before - hell, they’d literally slept next to each other in nothing but their underwear before, taking off his shirt in front of the omega shouldn’t feel weird. But this was his  _ den, _ and Kakashi, the omega he had been nursing a crush on for  _ ages _ now, was standing right there. Before, it had been in safe houses and necessary for the mission. He hadn’t been taking his shirt off for the express purpose of Kakashi putting his hands on him, and suddenly he felt incredibly self-conscious. 

“Do you need help?” Kakashi murmured, so quietly it could barely even be called a whisper.

Iruka shook his head suddenly, peeling off his flak jacket, noting the way his back complained at the motion. He pulled his shirt off over his head next, afraid if he lingered to long he would lose his nerve. That done, he glanced back over at Kakashi, who was courteous enough not to stare at Iruka’s now bare torso. “I guess I’ll lay down, then?” Iruka said faintly, trying to keep his own voice down so as not to disturb Naruto.

Kakashi nodded. 

Iruka lowered himself to his bed, pillowing his head on his hands as he heard Kakashi kneel beside him. Nervous, he shut his eyes, inhaling sharply as he felt Kakashi’s calloused fingers slip over his back, coming to rest on Mizuki’s painful parting gift. A moment later, Iruka had to swallow down a groan as Kakashi began the massage, working the stiff tissue with the sort of care and dedication that had to have come from treating numerous scars of his own. Faintly, Iruka wondered just how many scars Kakashi had to massage religiously to maintain his own speed and flexibility for fieldwork. He felt terrible, wondering how stupid he must seem to Kakashi for not bothering to do something as important as keep up his treatment regiment for such a debilitating injury.

Kakashi said nothing of the sort, however, simply continuing his ministrations, soothing the stiffness and ache that had been gradually radiating out from that point in his back throughout the day. Once he’d finished with the scar, he moved up, working on the tension in Iruka’s neck and shoulders, before dipping lower and working out the knots in Iruka’s lower back, too. By the time his hands returned to the scar, Iruka was little more than a loose puddle of an alpha, already more asleep than awake. When the hands finally lifted away, Iruka knew he should be a good host, get up, see Kakashi to the door, thank him for the massage, but he was just so  _ tired. _

He tried to sit up anyway, but Kakashi laid a gentle hand on his back. “Sleep, sensei,” he said softly. “You could use the rest.”

Iruka wanted to protest, but he simply nodded. Kakashi pulled the blankets up over him, and stood to leave. “Thank you,” Iruka breathed. 

“Anytime,” Kakashi replied softly, and if he said anything else, Iruka wasn’t awake to hear it.

The next morning, for the first time in months, Iruka woke feeling well-rested. 

…it didn’t stop him from yelling at Naruto for eating cup noodles for breakfast, though.

**Author's Note:**

> The lovely massage scene at the end would not exist without [this wonderful Iruka Week Day 1 contribution](https://animetrashmuffin.tumblr.com/post/645092850639470592/iruka-week-hosted-by-iruka-week-day-1-scars-i) from [vincentpriceisright](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vincentpriceisright/pseuds/vincentpriceisright) ([animetrashmuffin](https://animetrashmuffin.tumblr.com/) on tumblr)! If you haven't seen it yet, definitely check it out, as soon as I saw it I was like "well now this fic definitely needs a deep tissue massage", so... yeah. Thanks!  
> I hope to write more for this series at some point, mayyybe sooner than later? We'll see how Iruka week shakes out. :) There are a few more prompt options I can see. :3


End file.
